


Baton Pass

by ao3ex



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Conversations, Goodbyes, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 23:42:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12000393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ao3ex/pseuds/ao3ex
Summary: As Ryuji and Akira grow ever closer, Captain Kidd realises he will soon have to say goodbye.





	Baton Pass

He slows into a walk, stumbles down onto his hands and knees, and crawls off the side of the track to collapse in the overgrown grass. The ground has yet to dry from yesterday’s rain and a late-night dew has settled through the blades. All much wetter than he expected, but he’s too tired to move and the water is blissfully cool against his bare arms and soaking through his already sweat-dampened clothes.

The sky is dark above, and massive. He loves the feel of his breath dragging heavy through his throat, slowly leveling off. The sounds of a well-worked body pushing the city and the world away.

A shape appears in the air above him - a hand, gloved yellow, tipped with metal claws that shine brighter as they take form, catching the fierce beams of the floodlights around the track.

“...Cap?”

The hand snaps tight into a fist. “Good evening.”

“Wait, what’s goin’ on? Somethin’ happen?” He pulls his phone from his shorts pocket and holds it up above his face, but there’s nothing new waiting in the group chat.

“Ryuji... all is well. I simply wish to talk to you.”

“Talk...” He drops his arm to the side, and after a few seconds realises he has dropped his phone into the wet grass too. He scoops it back up, wipes it off on his t-shirt and leaves it lying there on his chest.

“I know, we haven’t exchanged words outside of a mission for a while.”

“Yeah... suppose so. We did used to talk more, at the start. I kinda miss it, you know?”

“Well, you did have a lot of questions.”

“Can you blame me!? I still dunno what the hell’s goin’ on half the time. And...” He sighs. “I asked you for advice plenty of times, too. When things were rankin’ up. But, I’m sorry if we’ve been quiet lately.”

“There is no need for apologies. We’ve hit our rhythm, as partners, as one.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty awesome, just knowin’ you’ve got my back. But - you wanna talk now? What’s the problem? Maybe I can help you out for once.”

“Well. Uh...”

“Man, come on. After all this you’re gonna ‘uh’ at me?”

“Well-”

“Wait, it’s not more ‘I art thou’ stuff, is it? You know I don’t get all that echoey voice crap. It weirds me out.”

“I apologise... but it may be a little like that.”

Ryuji sits up, resting on his elbows. “Huh. But that means... it’s important?”

Captain Kidd pulls back a little, turns to one side. He takes one step and races away, a wave and then a ship sweeping up beneath his feet, everything shimmering half-imagined, arcing around the inside edge of the far end of the running track. And back again. “It is.”

“Is it... bad?”

“... that’s difficult. I’m very proud of you, do you understand that? We have come along way since we met each other. Since you met him.”

Ryuji smiles. He closes his eyes, lets himself smile wider at the thought. “Yeah. You know, he said he was jealous of us one time. Jealous of the rest of us.”

“I know.”

“Hey, I know you know. Thought we were talkin’?”

“...”

“Alright, good. I didn’t think about it much at the start, but I feel kinda bad for him. Like, you and me, we’ve been through this all together, right? And we’ll be together til the end, too. But he’s always got somethin’ new with him.”

The Captain is quiet for a moment - they both are. The day’s heat is slipping into the dark. “...that is his duty in this.”

“At the same time... gotta admit, it’s pretty cool. ‘Mothman!’ - haha, shit. I loved that little guy! Ann couldn’t even take her turn the first time he showed up. But, then he was just gone, and there was some, weird... horse guy or somethin’ there instead.”

“There are a quite a number of weird horse guys. Mothman... mothman is very good, though. That is correct.”

“Jealous?”

Captain Kidd laughs. “We all have our place, our potential. I am confident ours exceeds his.”

“Now it’s all Seth and... Rangda? And Narcissus. Been a while with him...”

“Jealous?”

“What?!” A vibration against his ribs.

“He is blonde... all those flowers.”

“So - I’m not even a natural! And I ain’t into flowers. I’m like, like a tough biker guy!”

“Isn’t that Makoto?”

“I was first! The leather jacket and everything...”

“The cute scarf.”

“I know... alright, I know it’s cute. I like that it’s cute!”

“Maybe we can put some flowers on there.”

“Maybe we could! ... meanie.” 

Ryuji groans, sits up. His phone slides down into his lap. A blinking light, something new in DMs. He leaves it there unread for later. 

He forces himself back to his feet with another groan, “Come on then. I shouldn’t have stopped. Keep talkin’.”

He begins to walk, slowly building pace, his legs aching. Captain Kidd floats alongside, silent, watching. His eye holds an orange glow, one distant candle. Dimmer as he looks away.

“Ryuji...”

Ryuji doesn’t answer. He starts into a jog. His feet are heavy but the red track is firm and sure beneath him. He sets his jaw. 

“Ryuji. There is a moment approaching. With the amount of time you two have been spending together, I believe it will be quite soon. And when... and then...”

“Cap.” The first turn comes up. He loves running through the corners, the grand arc of them uncurling before him. “It’s ok.” The world rotating to his pace. “Say whatever.” And he leans into it. “You have to say.” Between breaths. “I trust you.”

Kidd turns onto his back, reclining, the deck of a grand ship in ghostly outline beneath him. He traces lines between the stars, clawed constellations. 

“You called me forth at your moment of awakening, for a purpose. Together we have come far, you have grown so much. But it’s one thing to grow, one thing for me to help you on that journey. When it is complete, you will find yourself changed. A different attitude is required then, to persist, when you have reached your potential...”

“Uh-huh...?”

“I’m saying... I won’t be with you for much longer, Ryuji. I’m not leaving, exactly. I’m going to change, into something else.”

“What! Into... what?”

“I don’t know... but-”

“But. Thou art. I. Right?”

“You... yes.”

Ryuji picks up pace again, warming, finding his rhythm. He looks to the night, the nothing beyond the low stands around the track. Void beyond the floodlights. He focuses on his breathing, his movements, not on the distance, not the next corner, not the next thought.

Kidd smiles and drops back a little, out of Ryuji’s vision. “You always used to run roads. Now the track.”

“It’s better. For my leg.”

“I’m sure that’s true.”

“You know it.” Another corner, another straight, and he decides to speak what they both know already. “Roads are good. When you wanna get away. Feel like you’re leavin’.” He shakes his head. “I’d never really do it. But it felt good. Like. If I trained hard enough. I could just keep goin’. I’d never have to stop. Never have to turn back.”

“And now?”

“Now... now I’m not going anywhere. I just wanna get stronger. I don’t wanna let anyone else down. And he’ll always be there for me, at the start line and the finish.” 

“And that’s why...”

“Why is it, though? Why do you have to leave.”

Cap moves forwards a little.

“Hold up,” Ryuiji says. He sniffs, swipes at his eyes, spits.

“This is how it works. I thought you understood.”

“I get the words, man. I just don’t get why. Where the hell are you going!?”

“We’re not people, Ryuji, we’re not separate from you. We are you. My voyage with you is nearly over, and you’ll be a different person when you land. A different man on shore.”

“You can say it - however many effin ways you like! I know what you mean. I know things change...”

“You have changed, and so I will too. Maybe there are just points where a gradient becomes a solid line, between who you were then and who you are now. I am becoming a part of your past.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Of course. But cowards don’t get this power. And I know you won’t run from it now.”

Ryuji grits his teeth and his growl turns into a barked laugh in his throat. He shakes his head. “Goddamn it! Guess you’d know, Cap. No - I’m done avoiding things. I won’t run away.”

“I’m sorry for springing this on you.”

“I wish you’d told me sooner.”

“It may not have happened at all. This is something special, only for those who develop truly unbreakable bonds.”

“I’m glad you told me now at least. If it just happened? And I never got to say goodbye? I’d be so pissed at you.”

“I’m sure you’ll forget all about me when your ultimate power awakens.” 

“Shut up, man. No way. They better be awesome, though.”

“I’m certain of it.”

“So - what it’ll be? Like, a - a, cool, uh, black knight, type, guy. Or a super hero... ninja...”

“Perhaps a monkey of some kind.”

“Not a monkey! Whatever, I’m sure my soul will think up something cool.”

“I’m sure...”

They keep moving on, together. Ryuji feels a lightness, in his chest. A certainty to his step. The time, the fatigue, the distance, all fade.

“I love you, man.”

“Ryuji. I love you too.”

“Huh...”

“Something wrong?”

“No. That was, just, a lot easier to say than I expected.”

“Follow your heart, Ryuji, and speak your mind.”

“However it happens, Cap - we’re gonna make this shitty world a better place. However it happens, thanks for fightin’ at my side - thanks for believin’ in me!” 

“I promise, your new power will shine even brighter. I’ll always be with you, Ryuji.” They turn the corner again, onto the home straight and fast along it. “And now, so will he.”

“Don’t make me cry for real, man. Come on, it’s not over yet. Another lap?”

“Of course.”

It’s a simple white strip across the track, an arbitrary demarcation now. But Ryuji imagines Akira there, waiting to one side. That smile on his face - somehow amused and knowing and patient all at once. A hand raised, in greeting, encouragement. 

“Alright, of course.” Ryuji grins, dips a bow over the start line, and does not stop. “One more!”


End file.
